Dodgers go into All-Star break on top of baseball

It's only the first half, but what a first half of a season the Dodgers have had.

The Dodgers downed Kansas City 5-2 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep, coming on the heels of a sweep of second-place Arizona to go into the break with a 7.5 game lead in the NL West and the best record in baseball by a half-game over the AL's Houston Astros.

The Dodgers closed out the first half with a sizzling 26-4 mark in their final 30 games and did it with stellar starting pitching, power hitting and a deep bench that has dangerous bats from one to eight in the batting order.

Los Angeles staged 10 series sweeps by the All-Star break.

Clayton Kershaw finished the first half with a complete game to roll his record to 14-2. The Dodgers have not lost one of his starts since early May.

The 2017 edition of Dodgers' baseball features the top hitter in the bigs in Justin Turner and his .377 batting average; rookie sensation Cody Bellinger with his 25 home runs and 58 RBI; 2016 Rookie of the Year Corey Seager with a .298 batting average, 45 RBI and 13 HRs and a supporting cast that is deep and versatile.

Manager Dave Roberts' lineup card varies from game to game, with the likes of Chris Taylor, Kike Hernandez, Logan Forsythe, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Austin Barnes and Chase Utley playing multiple positions and moving up and down in the batting order. Yasmani Grandal handles the catching chores with Barnes an able backup.

Case in point: Puig usually hits eighth in the order and has hit 16 home runs, knocked in 43 RBI and posted a respectable .251 average. Defensively, he ranges right field and dares runners to test his arm.

The rest of the rotation includes breakout star Alex Wood (10-0, 1.67 ERA), Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 3.12 ERA), Kenta Maeda (7-4, 4.38 ERA), Rich Hill (5-4, 3.69 ERA) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-6, 4.21 ERA).

A weakness in years past, the Los Angeles bullpen has been lights out. Closer Kenley Jansen is 21 for 21 in save opportunities and the Dodgers can roll out flame throwers in Brandon Morrow, Josh Fields, Pedro Baez, Grant Dayton, Ross Stripling and Chris Hatcher to get to Jansen in the late innings.

The second half figures to be a wild ride.